The Fortune Of Friends
by Raliena
Summary: Alcatraz is destroyed, the cure continues to flow, Xavier has returned in his new body. He doesn’t wish to be caught unawares again searching for a way to see the future. He finds a mutant who can. But she’s not unguarded.
1. Why are we here?

I don't own X-men. All original characters are not mine, they own themselves.

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Xavier drove into the University Campus.

"I still don't understand." Kitty commented from the back of the car.

"Yeah, why is this mutant so special?" Bobby added.

"She has the power of precognition." Xavier explained, once more.

"So? Aren't there others?" Bobby asked.

"Not to her level." Xavier reminded.

"Most future-telling mutants are unreliable at best, only seeing random flashes. This girl can use her power at any time and get accurate visions." Ororo turned to face the younger mutants.

Xavier parked the car in a car park and the four mutants got out. Looking at the Hall in front of them, Xavier led his entourage in. Emerging in a deserted courtyard, they made their way into one the blocks.

Soon they were standing outside a door, in a small quiet corridor, the doors all shut and silent. Ororo knocked politely, but loudly; no one answered. So carefully Kitty phased through the door.

"No one's there." She announced as she emerged.

"What now?" Ororo asked.

"I found some information that indicated she spends a lot of time in a friend's room. We can try there." Xavier replied, moving swiftly away.

"How did you find all this info?" Bobby was curious.

"On the internet." Xavier replied shortly, entering another block.

As they moved down the corridor they passed a fairly tall guy, dressed in well worn jeans, which were a light faded blue, and a loose stripped shirt. His hair was fairly short, and brown in colour, matching his brown eyes. His face was oval in shape and expressed happiness, although it was cocked onto one side as he looked at them with curiosity. His movements indicated a calm, but lively presence; a friendly student, and neatly dressed indicative of a tidy mind. He was heading in the opposite direction to them. The door they wanted was propped open by a yellow box containing a variety of cutlery; so they entered, not being able to see anyone, at first glance.

The room consisted of two rooms; the first that they walked through was more of a corridor than anything, the area was more of a storage area than anything, a door was on the left, obviously able to swing around by a hundred and eighty degrees, to block another doorway, which they moved through, not worried about the door concealed. The main room had a window directly opposite the door, under which a bed was positioned. The end of the bed was mere inches from the a desk, held up at the end by a chest of drawers, ran along the left wall, for most of its length, the rest of the wall was taken up by the wardrobe. Two chairs were in the right hand corner nearest the door, and there were two shelves over the desk.

That was the basic layout of the room, but the owner had put their own touches on the room. There was a flat computer screen, television, and printer laid out on the desk, with some small decorations stuck around the computer screen; the computer box squeezed into the gap between the wardrobe and the end of the desk. Books were shoved onto the shelves, so that there was little space left, but they weren't all textbooks, several fiction books mixed in, and folders probably containing lecture notes, as well as a television aerial stuck on the top shelf. On the windowsill was a picture, and several other small decorative items.

The walls had posters, pictures and various hand-written lecture notes stuck up. At least two posters contained popular funny quotes of President Bush, and a few pictures were of famous actors in their roles, and a couple of photos of what had to be friends and family. On top of the wardrobe was piled boxes and bags, the floor was scattered with shoes, a notebook and a rug.

The bed had a fleecy blanket spread over it, covering the entire bed from top to bottom, obviously far too large for the bed, as some was lying on the floor in a heap, a wolf motif decorating it. There was a mound in the bed, positioned near the head, and it was on this that Xavier focused his attention.

Shutting and locking the door behind them took only a second, as Xavier approached the bulge in the bed. Pulling a chair up near to it, he sat down. Ororo took the other chair, while Kitty sat on the floor and Bobby perched on the desk, just in front of the printer.

Xavier reached forward and gently pulled the blanket off the bundle on the bed, revealing a girl in her late teens curled up in the corner apparently asleep. Her short, curly brown hair lay haphazardly on the bed. Her bespectacled eyes were closed in the manner of sleep. Held loosely to her chest was a green care-bear, one of three revealed by the blanket's movement.

"Rachael…" Xavier whispered, leaning down to be level, the girl didn't stir. "Rachael… Wake up. It's time to wake up."

The girl's eyes snapped open, dark brown eyes, radiating a conflicting mixture of confidence and wariness, stared into Xavier's blue gaze.

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	2. The first mistake

I don't own anything, please don't sue.

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The guy that Xavier's entourage had passed going down the hall had watched them enter the room. He rushed to the door, reaching it just as it was locked, placing his hand on the handle he vainly tired to gain access.

Giving up, he raised his gaze from the handle to the centre of the door. His eyes seemed to unfocus for a moment. Immediately he turned away from the door, looking further down the corridor, as if to move down it.

Another figure was approaching, a female figure of about average height, and maybe slightly above average weight, but not incredibly so. Dressed in blue jeans, held up by a woven leather belt, and a beige strappy-top decorated with pink and red flowers, she moved confidently down the hall, clasping a steaming mug in a hand, a spoon sticking out, moved carefully by the other hand. A pair of rectangular glasses sat perched on her nose, covering blue, slightly sleepy eyes, her oval face, lit up in an absent minded smile, was framed by long hair hanging to her shoulders, it was obviously half way through growing out a dying, as about half of the hair was a reddish brown that seemed to shine, and the upper half was a sort of mousey brown, her hair was tucked away from the eyes by the simple method of hooking behind her ears.

"Glen, what's up?" she asked, looking slightly worried.

"Some strangers entered your room, Kie." Glen replied quickly, a look of slight panic on his face "They've locked the door, and Rachael's still in there!"

The girl identified as Kie, turned to her door, settling down the steaming mug, her eyes glazed over slightly. Snapping back to reality she turned to her friend.

"You're right. And she's scared! You go and fetch Katie, I'll get Diane." The two university students turned down the corridor leaving the block at a dead run.

Once outside they split up, running in different directions; Glen ran to another part of the Hall, while Kie made her way quickly to another Hall just across a small section of road; her bare feet slapped onto the concrete and tarmac as she moved.

Dashing through the courtyard of the foreign Hall, Kie flung open a block door after hastily typing in a code.

A short way down the hall, she began to bang on a door. The door was opened, after several long seconds, by a fairly harassed looking girl, her blond brown hair reached to her shoulder blades, was curly and hung messily around her face. Her face seemed roman in appearance, what with her straight nose, blue eyes, and fine features. Her height was about equal to Kie; she was dressed in a beige-green shirt with the top three buttons undone, and a pair of light brown slacks, with bracelets on both wrists. She seemed both sleepy and annoyed, but quickly changed her expression into a bright warm smile, as if she had been expecting someone else, who would not have been as warmly greeted.

"Diane! Rachael's in trouble! My room!" Kie said quickly, before turning and leaving.

Diane barely wasted any time, grabbing her keys and putting on her socks and shoes was all the preparation she took. Looking the door behind her as she left was an automatic reaction, before bolting after her friend.

Diane caught up with Kie outside the door; Glen arrived not moments later with a girl, who had to be Katie in tow. Katie was almost a full head shorter than Glen, but her movements and expressions showed that she could and would more than make up for her lack of stature in personality; most of all it showed in her clothing, the blue well worn and creased jeans with a brown t-shirt, were standard of any student, but the soft leather partially embroidered boots were defiantly not, nor was the multicoloured cardigan she had on over the top. Her face seemed unnaturally serious, more used to a friendly smile; her hair was very dark brown almost black and short, barely even five inches long, occasionally spread among the dark hair was a light brown highlight; her brown eyes were worried.

"How are we going to get in?" Glen asked, "It's not like they're going to open the door if we knock."

"Diane, open the door." Kie instructed, calmly.

"How? I can't exactly chop it down." Diane gestured helplessly.

"Make a key." Kie replied, shortly.

"You know I can only do weapons." Diane replied tersely.

"If you can do knives with hooks and barbs, you can do a key." Kie said firmly, "Try!"

Diane sighed, kneeling down to observe the lock. Out of no-where a small, slim dagger appeared in her hand, which was inserted into the lock. Concentrating she tried to turn it.

Glen's eyes again unfocused,

"Rachael's on the bed. There's a woman on the chair in the corner, a boy in front of the printer, a girl on the rug and a man on a chair next to the bed."

Kie seemed to briefly concentrate for a moment, before relaxing.

Less than a minute later, Diane announced.

"Got it!"

Opening the door as quickly as possible the four friends charged into the room.

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	3. Fear in her eyes

I don't own anything, please don't sue.

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Bobby watched with interest as Rachael moved from lying down to sitting up, with a flowing motion. Having wedged herself in the corner, she scanned the room nervously, assessing each one of them with a piercing gaze. The look was over in seconds, but he was relieved when she was finished.

In return he assessed her, the dark brown hair noticed earlier was tousled and wild, as if it hadn't been touched by a brush for most of the day, if not two; her physical shape was hidden rather effectively by the baggy blue t-shirt and loose, black trousers that she wore, as well as the emerald toy clutched tightly to her chest. Her skin was light olive, fairly unblemished and clean; her nails were short, and again clean.

As she had sat up, a necklace had fallen out from her t-shirt, in the fraction of a second that it took her to notice and replace it, he had registered that the talisman hanging off the well-worn silver chain was a tarnished silver cross; that and the black leather watch band, holding the small watch face rimmed in a golden coloured material on her wrist, were the only jewellery visible. A pair of large, round glasses, sat perched on a slim nose, dwarfing her face, especially her eyes.

One of the things about her that stood out was her overall appearance, what with her knees pulled up to her chest, revealing dark green socks; the tightly held teddy; the movement with which she swept sleep from her eyes; her mismatched clothing; she appeared to be much younger than her years indicated. Not only that but she gave the impression of a scared and defenceless child.

However it was her eyes that really confused him, not completely focused, giving her a dreamy, disorientated look, which was not surprising considering that she'd just woken up.

Kitty on the other hand was watching the girl's face. Rachael was obviously scared; while most people would have in her situation had an expression reading 'fight or flight' Rachael's only indicated flight.

Xavier had obviously also obviously also observed the expression,

"It's alright, Rachael. No one's going to hurt you. You're safe. We only want to talk." He tried to calm her down with his words.

Rachael didn't seem to relax, one iota. If anything she tensed up more, clutching the stuffed toy closer to her chest.

"We're here about your gift, Rachael. You're not alone. We can help you." Xavier continued, "My name is Professor Xavier. This is my colleague Ororo," he indicated her, "And these are two of my students: Bobby and Kitty." He motioned to each one in turn.

Rachael's eyes continued to dash around the room, the only part of her whole body that was moving, as she sought an escape route.

We're like you. Xavier broadcast to all in the room, You're not alone. We can help you gain control.

Ororo created a small windstorm above her hand; Bobby iced his hand, while Kitty waved hers through his leg.

Rachael's only reaction to the display was to tense up even more; her lips disappeared, as she tightened her mouth, sucking them inside, in fear.

Xavier was worried; he had not expected this level of reaction. Indeed Rachael should be relieved that she was not alone, grateful that people could help her. Gently he reached out to her mind, it was a breach of his ethics, but he only had her best interests at heart. If he could learn the cause and reason of her anxiety, he would be better positioned to calm her.

His touch met a solid wall of resistance, completely impenetrable. Even without trying he knew that it would take a lot of time and effort to even get close to reading her mind.

He could, however, sense her presence; to use terminology that he hated, he couldn't read her thoughts, but he could perceive her aura. It was at times like this that he wished he could ascertain emotions, as it was he could only detect emotions in relation to the thoughts of the person.

"I know you're probably very scared. And feeling very alone right now. I'm sorry that we only found you recently. But you must understand we've been very busy." Xavier continued.

Rachael's eyes paused, locking gaze with Xavier's own blue eyes. The fear radiating from her made him feel uncomfortable, as if he was the sole cause of her unease.

"You're a mutant, just like us. Your gift has just developed later than most, but it's not unusual." Xavier stressed, still desperate to comfort her; "How, I know you've been forced to cope on your own, until now. Maybe you've been coping for a few months. It's okay now though, we're here to help."

His words seemed to have penetrated her terror; the lips reappeared, the death grip on the toy loosened, the shoulders relaxed. While she was still curled up in the corner, she was visibly more comfortable with the situation; there was even a faint hint of a smile on her face.

"Why don't we discuss this, and sort out your future, now that everything has changed? After all it's not as if you can continue here. There are no other local mutants; the United Kingdom has a much smaller population of mutants, barely even one third of the population in America."

Xavier's spiel was interrupted by the arrival of four people into the room. The intruders had positioned themselves around the bed, in only a fraction of a second, three of them in various fighting stances, ranging in styles; the fourth giving Rachael a comforting, sisterly hug before sliding into the gap between Xavier and the bed. The strangers had formed a barrier of sorts; each face determined, each pose defensive.

Xavier was shocked, he had not expected the girl he had begun to think of as _his_ precog, to have guardians.

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	4. Unexpected protection

I don't own anything, please don't sue.

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"You okay, Rachael?" Glen asked, twisting his head slightly in order to look at her, from his position in the defensive line. A slow, but sure nod was his only answer.

Kie quickly assessed the opposition, as she knew the others were doing. Ororo, Kitty and Bobby had sprung to their feet, too late to prevent the invasion, but were ready for an attack. Kie didn't need to look at her friends; she knew that they were ready. Going from the opposite end to her, the person nearest the computer was Katie, tensed like a coil, ready to spring into action; Glen was next down the line, determined not to let anyone past; then there was Diane, standing in a low sword-fighting stance, no weapon in her hands though; finally was herself, she could feel the adrenaline coursing through her body. No one was going to hurt Rachael, while they were still able to fight.

"Please, there's no need for violence." Xavier stressed, old habits had preventing him from moving, "We only wish to talk. May I know whom I am addressing?"

"Kie."

"Diane."

"Glen."

"Katie." The students named themselves running down the line.

"Well, then shall we sit down?" Xavier motioned his side to relax. Once they were seated, the students also sat down, squeezed onto the bed.

"Speak your piece." Glen demanded.

"I came to talk privately with Rachael." Xavier returned, his request implied in the statement.

"Any conversation in this room, I have the right to hear. It is mine after all." Kie pointed out, from where she sat in front of Rachael, with her back to the wall. It had not escaped Xavier's notice that they had effectively boxed Rachael into her corner, preventing any access.

"It is a personal matter." Xavier countered.

"Rachael, is this about…" Diane trailed off, before she reached the end of her question; turning her head slightly to look at the girl next to her. Rachael, despite being curled up in her corner was looking far more comfortable with the current scenario, a faint smile on her lips, which hadn't quite reached her eyes. Obviously she understood the question as she nodded calmly in reply.

"If you speak to one of us, you speak to all." Katie put in, her gaze firmly on Xavier.

"I don't think you quite understand." Xavier replied.

"No, we understand. It's _you_ who doesn't understand. Professor. Charles. Xavier." Kie retorted, the last three words were clipped.

"All of us are different." Glen's voice was firm.

"But all of us are the same." Katie added.

"The next stage in evolution." Diane half smiled in amusement.

"You're _all_ mutants?" Bobby asked shocked.

"Yes. We were friends first, fellow mutants later." Glen replied.

"The odds against that are astronomical!" Ororo pointed out.

"But not impossible." Kie replied.

"Statistically it is. The UK's population of mutants is less than one third of the US's." Kitty stated.

"Numbers are pure liquid evil." Katie announced firmly.

"Six." Xavier heard an unfamiliar voice announce. It was easy to deduce that the speaker was Rachael.

"Six what?" Xavier asked, looking intently as her.

"How long I've coped." Her voice was musical and soft, but also childish and afraid.

"Six months? You've coped extremely well then." Xavier smiled, benevolently.

"No, not months." Rachael corrected, shaking her head gently, a slightly strange smile on her face, not reaching her eyes.

"Weeks? Then…" Xavier started.

"No, not weeks." Rachael's voice rose from a barely audible whisper to normal level, the listeners got the feeling that if she was any other person that she would be shouting, "Six _years_! Six years Professor and no help. Six years, coping on my own the whole time. Too afraid to ask for help. Yet seeking help, when none would come. Six years of possible insanity. But you never came.

"You didn't look here for mutants. Why? I know why. You've told me. Too few mutants for your interest. Not even one third the number in America. About a quarter then? We have an overall population of about a fifth of America's. That means we have a larger average population of mutants. You never realized that did you? You never looked at us. You never looked for us. So why come now?" her eyes were cold now, but confident, with an edge of steel and anger in both them and her voice.

"You came for me. For some reason I came to your notice. Or rather my powers. You didn't look for a recently emerged mutant. You looked for a pyskic, a precog, a fortune teller. And you found me. Obviously such a _unique_ mutant would have come to your attention _long_ ago. So I _had_ to be new. But I'm not. And I tell you, _Charles_, had you asked me six years ago, I would have accepted your offer of help, I would have gone to your school. Five years ago, I would have _begged _for your aid. Even three or four years ago, I would have considered it. But now? I've done fine on my own so far. I can cope from here on in. Though what I would trade to be rid of this power, once and for all, you wouldn't believe."

"But your power is a part of who you are! Why would you give that away?" Ororo asked shocked and horrified.

"Yes, but it _hurts_!" Rachael fired back, fire in her voice and eyes, "And you have no idea what you're talking about." She turned to stare intently into Xavier's eyes, "Professor, do me one favour, and then leave." He opened his mouth to protest, but she cut in, "Not forever, just for today. We'll meet you, and _only_ you, at the forest grove between here and the millennium gardens, tomorrow at three o'clock. We can discuss this then. Agreed?"

"Agreed. What is this favour?" Xavier was cautious, but in too much shock to disagree.

"Read my mind." The words were quick, but authorative.

"But, I can't." his reply was too quick, he realized, he couldn't take it back though.

"I need to show you something. Then you might be able to understand _why_ I'd give it all up in a heart beat."

"I'll need to be closer to you." Xavier lied calmly.

Rachael nodded, and the seating arrangements changed; Glen slid to the floor, while Diane budged up, leaving Kie free to slip into the vacated spot. Rachael moved forward, positioning herself so that her feet were on the floor, revealing dark green socks, as she sat neatly on the edge of the bed. Her hands had disguarded the teddy, placing themselves in her lap, giving herself a prim appearance.

"No matter what you see, you leave right after." She reiterated firmly, before closing her eyes.

Xavier raised his hands to either side of her head, just brushing her sticking out hair. The last thing he noticed was the mixture of fear and anxiety on the faces of the university students. He closed his eyes, entering her mind; for a moment he detected the barrier, but then a kind of door opened, allowing him in.

As Bobby watched Rachael's head started to slowly move towards her chest, her features screwing up as if in immense pain, her shoulders rose, her hands clasped her upper arms just above the elbows. She had been transformed from a picture of calmness to a child in pain or torment, as her whole body tensed up.

Xavier's face also began to change expression, displaying mild pain. However his body kept its pose, Rachael's head between his hands. Apart from his face the only indication of any stress or strain was the tension appearing slowly in his body.

Suddenly Rachael flopped, all tension and expression vanishing from her body in a microsecond. Bobby had a feeling that the only thing keeping her from collapsing was an invisible, impossible force between her head and Professor Xavier's hands, a single string supporting her entire body.

For almost a minute nothing changed, neither of the pair moved. Then Xavier collapsed, falling back into the chair; it was obvious that he was unconscious. Bobby jumped to his feet, in defence of him.

"What did you do?" he yelled at Rachael; she couldn't hear him though, from the moment that Xavier's hands had fallen away from the sides of her head, she had lost all ability to stay upright. She was also unconscious; Kie had caught her, seemingly instinctively, and positioned her into a more comfortable arrangement.

"She didn't _do _anything!" Katie retorted, as the undergraduates scrambled to their feet, once again forming the protective wall in front of their friend.

"He made a deal. Honour it!" Glen added.

"He's hurt!" Ororo yelled.

"Just sleeping." Diane replied, firmly.

"Take him, and leave." Katie ordered.

"You don't start none, you won't get none." Kie quoted.

Bobby moved forward and lifted up his teacher, barely taking his eyes off the defensive line for a moment. Cautiously, warily, the X-men backed out of the room, ready to leap into action at any provocation. However nothing happened, the university students made no move, until the door had swung shut behind the X-men.

Once that had occurred, Katie sprung to lock it, having claimed the abandoned mug outside the door. Kie turned to Rachael, rearranging the sprawled limbs into a kind of foetal position, before pulling the blanket over her. Glen unfocused his eyes, twisting his head, as if following something invisible. Diane didn't move, except to lick her dry lips.

"We're clear." Glen announced, refocusing his eyes. Immediantly the tension in the room disappeared. Diane sank onto the bed in relief; Katie handed the mug to Kie, before flopping on the floor.

"Is she alright?" Diane asked Kie, nodding towards Rachael's curled frame.

"She'll be fine." Kie smiled, sitting on the edge of the bed, and changing the music playing on her computer from the gentle instrumental, to more up-beat music, "Just needs to sleep it off. I could feel the exhaustion radiating from her."

"She looked worse than usual." Katie said, as if this was a common incidence.

"I'd say she was shielding him. Protecting him from the full extent." Glen suggested, moving closer to Katie.

"That'd explain a lot… Except, _why_!" Diane pointed out, grabbing a cushion to lean against, "I mean from the way she was laying into him… I wouldn't have thought she'd want to."

"She said what was needed." Katie shrugged.

"Agreed." Glen's voice was cold, "He sweeps into a child's life, a child who is too scared to think properly, and takes them away. They're too frightened to refuse. Once he's got them, they're enthralled… _enamoured_ with being around people like them; other mutants. Their parents don't often know the secret. But he picks and chooses the ones he finds. He only goes after the strongest, the best, those who will be of the most use to him."

"I know. But think how _she_ is after one of her _incidences_. He doesn't deserve that… at least not to her way of thinking." Kie replied.

"I nearly went mad, because he didn't come for me." Glen retorted viciously.

"You think I don't know?" Kie fired back, angrily, "I had the same thing. I think he deserves everything he gets, but it was her decision. Her choice."

"I don't see how she can be so forgiving." Diane added, "She probably had it worse than any of us."

"I think it's because she's seen the worst of people." Katie replied, "She tries to balance the world out."

"Let's get off this morbid topic." Katie suggested.

"Yeah. We can insult him later… to his face." Glen pointed out.

"We also should stop talking behind her back." Diane smiled.

"Good point." Kie nodded.

"She hasn't moved an inch." Glen smiled.

"Come on…" Katie grinned, "That girl can sleep through a shouting match."

"But not fire alarms." Kie joked.

"We weren't making that much noise." Katie finished.

The quartet continued to talk discussing inane and meaningless things, while their fifth member slept peacefully on the bed, the music resounding around them fairly loudly.

Suddenly a female figure came through the wall between the computer and the television. Diving across the bed, she grabbed the arm of the sleeping girl, dragging her out of the room through the wall, to drop a storey. All of this happened in a second, too quick for anyone to do anything about it.

This did not stop them from reacting, once the event had occurred though.

"Outside!" Kie yelled peering out the window, to watch the landing; Katie hadn't bothered looking. Opening the door, she took two steps into the corridor, looked in both directions and jumped.

Bouncing between the ceiling and the floor, she moved quickly down the corridor. Once at the stairs, she changed her angle of momentum, seeming to throw herself at the wall, where the stairs turned. Rebounding off it, she landed on her feet in front of the block door.

Glen ran down the corridor, descending only a few steps before vaulting the banister, onto the lower steps; he didn't stop moving, until he too had reached the door, coming to a dead stop by it.

Diane was next to reach the door, having also ran there. She was swiftly followed by Kie, who had paused briefly to lock her door behind her.

Katie stood with her hand on the handle, not opening the door, just waiting, seemingly frozen in position. Diane was opening and closing her hands, rubbing her palms intermittently on her trousers. Glen was facing a wall, his eyes unfocused again; while Kie was poised to dash into action.

"Passing." Was Glen's one word comment, as he turned to face and focus on Kie.

Katie and Diane were both staring at her, as well. A quick, silent nod from her was the only signal they needed to open the door, charging into action.

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Please review. I _need_ feedback, people! I mean I know people are reading this. So why no reviews?

At this point I'd accept a flamer. At the very least it'd get my fingers warmer. I'm freezing!


	5. Fighting for Freedom

I don't own anything, please don't sue.

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Bobby had placed Xavier into the backseat of the car, before anything was said among the X-men.

"What do we do?" Kitty asked, nervously.

"We need to find out _exactly_ what she did to him!" Bobby growled angrily.

"Yes. And the best person to ask is Rachael." Ororo agreed.

"But how do we separate her from her friends?" Bobby queried.

"Why do we need to?" Kitty asked, "I mean, if we just go back…"

"They'll throw us out again." Bobby cut in.

"We need to talk to her, on her own." Ororo added.

"I wonder why they're so protective." Kitty mused, "I'm in."

"How do we do it?" Bobby asked, as the three of them headed back to the room; Ororo explained her plan as they went.

Shadowcat entered the building alone; while Iceman and Storm waited outside Kie's window, standing just close enough to be out of view of a casual peek out the window. Climbing the flight of stairs to the first floor, she entered the bathroom positioned next to Kie's room. Quickly moving to the end of the room, she took a deep breath before making her move.

She dashed into Kie's room, it was fairly easy to spot Rachael, her dark hair was clearly visible on the white pillow. Reaching out, she grabbed Rachael's arm; before diving out of the room, dragging her reluctant passenger behind her.

In the second that it took them to fall, Rachael came to a state of semi-consciousness, pulling herself free from Shadowcat's grip.

Without Shadowcat's phasing or any preparation for the landing, Rachael landed badly on her right leg, before sprawling in an ungainly mess on the floor.

Shadowcat also landed badly, put off by Rachael's instinctive break for freedom, she stopped phasing. Her full weight on landing was unfortunately on the already damaged ankle of Rachael.

In horror, Shadowcat got off quickly, as Iceman picked their once again unconscious captive up (Rachael had re-entered the realm of sleep, pretty much as soon as she had landed). All three of them made a break for the car.

However they were too slow, just before they would have passed the block door, the quartet charged out.

A bouncing ball of energy claimed Rachael off a startled Iceman, before remateralising as Katie among her friends ten metres down the path.

It only took a second for her to place her charge into Glen's surprised arms, before dashing back into the fray, followed swiftly by the other two girls.

"So, I just stand here then?" he asked, sarcastically.

"Yes!" Katie replied, as she began to fight Storm.

Diane had paired up with Shadowcat, and Kie took Iceman on.

"I can't touch her!" Diane yelled, as Shadowcat phased through the pair of daggers that had appeared in her hands.

"Switch then. I'll take her!" Kie replied.

"Kay!" was the signal for partner changes.

Katie bounced over to Iceman, as Diane sidestepped into Storm's path, Kie moved into Shadowcat's space. Almost immediately Shadowcat began to feel guilty. Why was she doing this? She didn't need to fight. Fighting was wrong. Violence was bad. Her moves became slower; her punches were pulled. She didn't want to hurt Kie. She didn't want to fight. She didn't have to fight. Kie hadn't attacked her. Kie was defending her friend. She was hurting an innocent. Kie was only blocking her. Kie was only parrying. It would be so much simpler to stop fighting. No one would mind. It was only the right thing to do. It was correct. She should stop. Right now.

"Shadowcat!" Iceman yelled. Shadowcat snapped out of the guilt for a moment, "The mission!"

Yes, that was right. The mission. She had to complete the mission. But she wouldn't hurt anyone. She _couldn't_ hurt anyone.

Phasing through Kie, she charged at Glen. Spotting Iceman's ruse instantly.

Glen turned and started to run, intent on protecting his charge. Or rather he tried to. Iceman had iced the path behind him, so that it now resembled a kind of slalom.

"Help!" he yelled, as he slid down the ice-slide.

The three girls jumped on it, following their male friend. Iceman, however, had not been planning on a soft landing. The slide ended, just short of a tree in the grassy area next to the car park.

Their combined momentum threw Glen and his ward into the tree. He stood up slightly dazed, but determined to fill his position in the protective line. All four stood ready to defend their unconscious, bruised and battered friend, who now lay in a sprawled heap beneath the tree. The X-men approached warily, trying to anticipate the next move of their unpredictable opponents.

"Why do you want her?" Diane asked, her eyes not moving from the three mutants.

"To find out what she did to Charles." Storm replied, bluntly.

"She didn't _do_ anything!" Kie sighed, exasperatedly.

"Can't you get that through your thick skulls?" Katie asked, angrily "Or is your collective single brain cell on holiday?"

"He's unconscious!" Shadowcat pointed out.

"So is she!" Glen retorted, annoyed.

"She hurt him!" Iceman's anger was clearly expressed in each word.

"No… No, she didn't." Seven heads turned to look at the speaker; Professor Charles Xavier stood on the edge of the grass, one hand holding his head. "We're leaving." He announced.

"But…!" Bobby started.

"Now." There was no stress on the single word, but there should have been.

The defensive line watched as the car sped out of sight, before relaxing.

"Is she alright?" Katie asked Glen, as he bent over Rachael.

"I'm fine. A bit sore. But fine." Rachael's voice replied softly.

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Please review. I _need_ feedback, people! I mean I know people are reading this. So why no reviews?

At this point I'd accept a flamer. At the very least it'd get my fingers warmer. I'm freezing!


	6. Flip side of the coin

I don't own anything, please don't sue.

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"Nice to see you awake." Glen held out a hand to pull her up.

"I thought you'd sleep for longer." Kie added, smiling broadly.

"_You_ try sleeping when something hits you." Rachael countered, rubbing sleep out her eyes, with one hand, while the other held her still intact glasses, "By the way, what _did_ hit me?" she asked curiously.

"A tree." Diane answered honestly, grinning.

"Oww." was Rachael's one word reply.

"Speaking of sleep," Katie started, "Why didn't you just knock Kitty out?"

"You try sending someone to sleep with that much adrenaline coursing through their system. Guilt was the next best thing. I was hoping to Guilt the adrenaline out of her; then use Sleep." Kie replied, capitalising the emotions.

The five friends started to head back to Kie's room, stopping when they heard a car pull into the parking area, which Xavier had left moments before. As they turned to watch, an infamous figure emerged.

"Magneto…" Diane breathed, awed.

"What is this?" Mutant Reunion Day?" Katie murmured.

"More like Mutant Careers Fair." Glen retorted, unimpressed.

"Let's bolt." Kie instructed, "We split up and meet in Portland, from there we can take the 'Secret' passage out. We should be lost in the crowd."

"It's _Sunday_!" Katie replied.

"Exactly, and the Christians should be coming out of their service soon. God knows they're the only other people up at this time." Kie replied, completely ignoring her use of irony "Let's move!"

"I can't." Rachael replied; as the others turned to look at her, she shrugged, "My ankle, it hurts. I can't run."

Kie sighed, the comment was true, she hadn't missed the limping movements of her friend, neither had the others. Getting away from Magneto required speed, and this couldn't work.

"What about that tree?" Katie pointed to a tall tree, just ahead of them, out of sight of the car park, "If I stash Rachael up there. She'll be safe."

"Good idea." Diane agreed.

"Alright, but go as high as you can." Kie approved reluctantly.

Katie enacted her plan, when it was obvious that Rachael, despite not being actually asleep, was tired enough not to care.

"Split up!" Kie ordered, once Katie had bounced back down, "We'll meet up at the passage entrance."

Each friend took a different path: Kie ran up the hill, on the fastest route; Diane ran over the Downs; Glen headed through some nearby Hall grounds, taking a more round-about route; Katie bounced all over the Campus, never touching the ground any closer than a hundred metres from the last point.

Up in the tree, Rachael sat perched on a branch, her back against the trunk. Closing her eyes she resigned herself to waiting, while her mind wandered.

Magneto walked towards the hall, his faithful lackeys following him: Pyro, Sabretooth and Toad.

"I still don't understand why we are here." Pyro said.

"Charles has not set foot outside North America for many years. When he suddenly comes all this way to recruit one mutant, I am interested. Either this child is incredibly powerful or incredibly useful. I wish to know why." Magneto replied, slightly frustrated.

Sabretooth stopped walking, sniffing the air.

"X-brats." He declared.

"Yes?" Magneto inquired.

"They were fighting four people, for a … girl?" the savage man was confused.

"That'll be our little mutant." Magneto nodded, "Did they get her?"

"No. The X-brat's left. The girl was taken this way." Sabretooth followed the scent down the path, retracing Rachael's route exactly; until the point where the path split.

"Lost the trail?" teased Pyro, while the silent Toad smiled.

"The group split up, and none of them took her." Sabretooth replied viciously.

"In which case she must still be here." Magneto pointed out exasperatedly. Immediately his lackeys spread out searching for her.

Sighing at the stupidity, Magneto walked forward to the tree, positioned between the fork of the path. Peering up through the leafy branches, he could easily spot Rachael.

"Hello, my child." He smiled, "Will you come down?"

"I can't." the reply was slightly slurred and sleepy.

"Why not?"

"My ankle hurts. It won't take my weight."

"Do you mind if I send someone up to help you down?"

"Why?"

"I just want to talk to you."

"Aren't we doing that now?"

"Yes, but I'm getting a crick in my neck." Magneto smiled at the girl's comment.

"Alright."

Magneto turned around.

"Toad, climb the tree and bring the girl down. Carefully!" he ordered. Silently the mutant obeyed.

Once Rachael stood on the ground again, she looked directly at Magneto

"Thank you." She said simply.

"You're welcome, my child. Now let's get the weight off your ankle and sit down over here." He motioned to a patch of grass, "By the way my child, what is your name?"

"Rachael." She declared, sitting down.

"Mine is Magneto; this is Toad, Pyro and Sabretooth." He motioned to each in turn.

"I know." Rachael replied calmly.

"I take it you also are a mutant?"

"Yes."

"I though so. Charles does not come all the way to the United Kingdom on a whim. What did he offer you? Help?"

"Yes. And fellow mutants as friends."

"I can offer you both as well."

"I know. But I already have mutants as friends. Mutants who, like me, have been coping on their own, for many years."

"That I can believe."

"How come?" Rachael was genuinely surprised.

"You are not panicking, and seem too self-assured to have an 'out-of-control' gift. May I ask, exactly what yours is?"

"You may ask. I may not reply though." Rachael replied.

"Indeed." Magneto smiled, this girl had spunk!

"If you wish to do a Sales Pitch, can I suggest a time and place, when I am not so sleepy?" Rachael asked.

"Name it." Magneto agreed, knowing that he would enjoy interacting with this child.

"Tomorrow, three o'clock, at the small grove between here and the Millennium Gardens? Just you though."

"Sounds fine. May I escort you to your room?" Magneto asked, standing up.

"No, I'll watch the sun for a bit." Rachael replied.

"Then, until tomorrow, my child." Magneto led his entourage away.

In the late morning sun, Rachael curled up and fell asleep. Her friends found her, still sleeping when they returned, just over forty five minutes later.

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Please review. I _need_ feedback, people! I mean I know people are reading this. I mean stats say that I've had 228 hits, and 11 people have read every chapter. So why no reviews?

At this point I'd accept a flamer. At the very least it'd get my fingers warmer. I'm freezing!

Please, I'm begging you, tell me if you like this or not!


	7. Sales Pitch

I don't own anything, please don't sue.

My thanks go to LifeBringsMeOnlyTears who provided my first review. Thanks a lot. This chapter is for you.

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Once back at the hotel, Bobby asked:

"What happened, Professor? Why did you pass out?"

"That girl is amazing. I am seriously surprised that she is not in an asylum, considering what I saw in her memories." Xavier replied.

"What was it?" Kitty asked.

"Why did she want to give up her powers?" Ororo queried.

"You all remember September the Eleventh?" Xavier asked, rhetorically, at their nods he continued, "What you saw will probably haunt you forever. But what did you actually see? A plane hitting a building; a fireball; people panicking in the streets; people running in fear; the destruction after; the crying relatives and friends. You never saw a single dead person. The badly wounded, yes, but that was the closest you came to a death. She saw _every_ person who died, die. Every person on all four planes. Every person in both towers. Every person at the Pentagon. She saw them all die. But she saw them die one minute before it happened, in a fraction of a second; too late to help, too late to _do_ anything. The same thing has happened for _every_ disaster, natural _or_ man-made, since then. And she remembers every single one! From the suicide terrorists singing hymns as they died, to the mother crying over her baby, knowing that her child will not live another day. She didn't show me all; she didn't show me the worst, but I saw enough to know that she has more of a right to give up her power than most. I'm surprised she hasn't committed suicide."

For a few moments there was silence, as all of them contemplated what he had said.

"Then why doesn't she take the cure?" Kitty asked; no one could answer.

The next day found Xavier and Magneto sitting in the grove at three o'clock.

"Hello, Eric." Xavier started.

"Hello, Charles. You look well." Magneto replied, "It is nice to see you walking. Although the body is a bit different to your original. Tell me, how long did it take you to enter Cerebro with new eyes?"

"Several hours." Xavier admitted, "What is your business in this place?"

"The same as your, I'd wager. Young Rachael and her friends."

"You know of her?" Xavier was surprised.

"Indeed." Magneto bluffed, "Such a unique child."

"How true. A mutant without parallel."

"I agree." Magneto kept quiet, hoping that Xavier would continue, to fill the silence.

"I believe she is the only precog in the world, who can predict reliably and accurately 100 of the time."

"Amazing." Magneto replied softly, while inside he was full of glee, he now knew her gift and understood Xavier's desire.

"Six years, she's coped." Xavier sighed.

"What of her friends?"

"Those four are very protective. But I never knew they existed. The mutant population is less than one third, in the United Kingdom, than in the United States, but the overall population is only a fifth. So the mutant-human ratio favours mutants in the United Kingdom. I never realized. I've been so wrapped up in American Mutants, I never thought about other countries." Xavier sighed.

"You weren't the only one." Magneto returned, slightly in shock at the revelation, and the implications.

"She told me that."

"A bright child then."

"Yes, but an angry one."

"I didn't find her so."

A little way down the path, just out of sight of the two men, stood the five friends.

"Xavier: possessive, annoyed, upset, angry. Magneto: relaxed, hopeful, happy, longing." Kie listed, her eyes glazed over.

"Are we sure we want to do this?" Diane asked nervously.

"If we don't go now, they'll keep hounding us." Rachael replied simply.

"Prediction?" Katie asked, half-joking.

"Don't need to waste talent on something like _that_!" Glen pointed out, "She's far too valuable to be allowed to roam free in their minds."

"Great! Now I'm cattle!" Rachael sighed.

"More like a wild horse." Kie retorted, "Shall we go?"

"Your choice Rachael." Diane addressed her, "Last chance to back out."

"We go." Rachael took a deep breath, in an attempt to restore her confidence.

The two men both look up as the five companions approached.

"Sorry we're late." Kie lied, "Rachael's practical over-ran."

"That's alright." Xavier smiled.

"We understand." Magneto nodded in acknowledgement.

"I never did get your powers, yesterday." Xavier requested.

"And if I may learn your name?" Magneto asked.

"I'm Kie, short for Jacqui. I'm empathic." Kie told them, keeping part of her gift hidden, an ace up the sleeve never hurt.

"Katie. I bounce, never getting hurt or loosing energy." Katie replied.

"Diane. I summon blades." She too, was keeping secrets.

"Glen. I see far things close to, and see through walls." Following Diane and Kie's example, he hadn't revealed the whole truth.

"Rachael, and you both know what I can do."

"Indeed. A wide selection of talents." Magneto complimented them.

"Thank you." Kie smiled.

"The pair of you are here to basically Sales Pitch us." Glen said, "Offer and Counter-offer, please."

"Who goes first?" Diane asked, as they sat down.

"Charles, my old friend, I defer to you." Magneto announced, pretending to be gracious, in actuality he wanted time to better asses this unusual bunch of mutants.

Xavier took a deep breath and ploughed in. During the length of his speech he extolled the virtues of his school: the quality of education; the pleasure of being around other mutants; the available training; the willing listening ears; the beautiful surroundings; the wonderful location; the lack of tuition fees. He spoke of his dream of mutants and humans living in harmony.

Once he had finished he reached out to skim their minds, to judge their opinions. However like Rachael each of them had unbreakable mental barriers.

"Counter-offer, please." Katie asked, turning to face Magneto.

Magneto spoke of the prejudices of the world; of the fact that people fear what they do not understand and cannot control. He spoke of a mutant holocaust; of extermination; of the cure being forced on mutants. He spoke of safety in numbers; of protection by friends, by allies. He spoke of aid being given freely where and when needed, of sharing resources. He spoke of freedom to be who you were, without fear of repercussions.

"Now, we'd like to ask some questions." Kie said, "If you wouldn't mind."

"Of course not." Magneto smiled.

"Not at all." Xavier agreed.

Glen, Katie and Diane immediately zoomed in on Magneto; Kie stood to one side, contemplating the two offers. Seeing the opportunity Xavier move to engage Rachael in conversation.

"Yesterday, you said that you'd give everything up in a flash… Why didn't you get the cure?" he asked.

"It doesn't work." She shrugged, "At least not permanently. If my power stopped working for a while, it'd be ten times worse on my sanity, when it returned. I can't take that risk. It might just push me over the edge."

"How do you know its not permanent?"

"Because I saw… Look at Magneto; four vials of the stuff and he still has his powers."

Suddenly Katie swept over and dragged Rachael away to talk to Magneto, while Glen and Diane took Rachael's place.

"Thank you," Kie said, after a few minutes had passed, "Please give us a few moments privacy, as we discuss our decision."

The five closed ranks on the ground, as they started to discuss.

"Rachael, Xavier wants you; he's extremely possessive of you. Resents us, hates the idea of Magneto getting you. We're secondary objectives, if anything." Kie whispered.

"What about Magneto?" Glen asked.

"He'd like any of us, particularly Rachael. But doesn't resent the idea of you being with us. Hates the idea of Xavier getting you." Kie reported.

"And _I'm_ the one doing the Psychology module?!" Katie asked, rhetorically.

"Hey, I just call them as I see…" Kie retorted.

"Feel!" Rachael corrected.

"Fine! Feel them. That dance we just did gave me clear emotional readings." Kie finished.

"Speaking of reading, did anyone else feel the telepath?" Diane asked.

"Yep."

"Yeah."

"Me too."

"Me three." All four replied.

"Does our decision stay the same?" asked Kie.

"Unless it changed after I called it a night, yes." Rachael replied.

"Defiantly." Katie agreed.

"Count me in." Glen nodded.

"I'm fine with it." Diane agreed.

They stood up, and faced the leaders.

"Having considered both your offers, our decision is…" Kie deliberately drew the answer out… "Neither!"

"We don't think we're ready to take on the world." Glen addressed Magneto.

"We don't need teaching. We've learnt all we need on our own." Diane addressed Xavier.

"We've already got friends. Each other." Katie told Magneto.

"We've got a good education going on here." Rachael told Xavier.

"We're free from repercussions here." Kie informed Magneto.

"We're in pleasant surroundings here." Glen informed Xavier.

"And we don't need to worry about tuition fees." Katie remarked, "Rachael managed to multiply our student loans by ten in the first month. I think we're covered for money."

"You can't do that!" Xavier stammered, "It's not an option."

"Oh, come not Charles." Magneto started, "I think it's a perfectly valid solution. They've obviously considered everything. You'll contact me if you ever want to take me up on my offer?" he asked, turning to the students.

"Of course." Diane replied, accepting a small strip of paper with a mobile number on it.

"The same goes for me?" Xavier recovered, as he scribbled a phone number down.

"As you wish." Glen replied.

"Good bye Charles." Rachael called as the two men began to walk away, "Farewell Eric."

"Farewell child." Magneto called back, unshocked by her use of his birth name, as he turned to wave good bye, Charles kept moving away, "By the way, what's your _true_ name?"

"I was baptised as Rachael. And it is my _real_ name. But my codename is Fortune."

"Very well, Fortune. Until we meet again." Magneto bowed elaborately.

"Until then." Rachael returned, curtsying just as elaborately back.

The friends watched as the two opposing leaders of the mutant community walked out of sight. Then they relaxed, disposing of the hidden tension. Life was back to normal.

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	8. Invasion

I don't own anything, please don't sue.

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It was the first week in September, and 'Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters' was in full session. Latish in the day, after class had ended, the students were running about, relaxing in the early autumn sunshine. None of them noticed a man sat in a tree, just outside the grounds. He was observing everything, occasionally making notes. He continued to watch throughout the night, never moving from his position.

The next day found him meeting four girls in a Starbucks. All five of them were nursing different drinks as they sat at a quite corner table, a map of the mansion laid out in front of the solitary male. None of them dared put their drinks down, in fear of staining the map, as he began to mark arcs and lines all over the map, at seemingly random locations, drinking his large mug of coffee, occasionally he referred to his notes.

"Is this everything?" one girl asked, sipping a hot chocolate complete with whipped cream.

"For the grounds, yes." He replied.

Quickly the map was replaced with blueprints of the inside of the building. Again he marked a mixture of lines and arcs, before he claimed a blank piece of paper to draw a layout on, once more scattered with lines and arcs.

Then he went back and scribbled numbers by everything.

All five poured over the schematics,

"Not very well protected is it?" one asked, gulping some of her cappuccino.

"No, but the basement has enough for everything." Another pointed out, swallowing some of her tea.

"Well then, let's teach them why security is important." The guy smiled, finishing his coffee.

"I do hope they're ready for guests." The last girl remarked, before taking a mouthful of her orange juice. A quick grin flashed round the group.

That night all five were standing, out of camera shot, at the back of the grounds.

"Kinetic, we need you to get in quick, just in case we have an accident." One girl ordered.

"Okay, Whisper." Kinetic replied.

"Got your route memorised?" the guy asked.

"Yes, Orion." Kinetic sighed, slightly annoyed.

"Morrigan, Robin Hood style please." Whisper requested.

"Count on it." The girl identified as Morrigan smiled broadly.

"Your route is the trickiest," Whisper addressed the last member of the group, "So be careful."

"Hey, you know me… One step ahead of the game."

"Alright." This comment was accepted; "Everyone ready?" nods answered Whisper. "Be careful, there might be a few insomniacs up. I'll do what I can. Just watch out. See you all inside."

The group split up, each oddly garbed member going in a different direction.

The girl identified as Kinetic took a few steps away from the wall, entering a clearing. In the half light provided by the stars and a sliver of moon, her strange outfit could be seen more clearly. Silver heeled boots ran up to the top of her knees, with the black tight trousers tucked in, providing a sleek, slender bottom half. The top half of the outfit continued the slender image, the tight black and silver top was sleeveless, depicting a chunky, black 'K' the back of the 'K' ran down her right hand side, from top to bottom, following the curves of her body, stopping just above her hips, the top slant of the 'K' made a 'v' neck for the top, stopping just above the left shoulder; the bottom slant of the 'K' formed the bottom of the top, again stopping just above her hips; a wedge shaped gap lay between the bottom parts of the 'K', revealing a pale stomach; the gap between the two slanted parts was filled in with silver fabric; the motif was repeated on the back of the top. The lower half of her arms were covered, black fabric covered the palm of her hands to her wrists, with small slits to display the knuckles, silver fabric ran up her arms to just short of her elbows, where a ring of black fabric, about two inches thick ran around the top. The bottom of the top partially covered a wide white belt, decorated with small, sharp, slender obsidian daggers, held in place by a single black band for each knife. However the silver fabric did not shine, it was merely silver in colour.

Looking up at the roof of the mansion, Kinetic smiled confidently and secretively. She bent her legs slightly, before launching herself into the air. She landed lightly on the roof, freezing in place for a moment.

Nothing happened, not alarms or panic. Kinetic's smile increased in size. Gently she reached out her left arm to touch one particular roof tile, apparently no different to its neighbours. Only none of its neighbours caused the tiles in front of Kinetic to slide forward, leaving a hole, just large enough for her to slip in.

Dropping gently to the floor she waited for a while, before rising to close the hatch. Now for the next part of the plan.

Orion was the next to make his move. His long black coat swept along behind him, almost reaching the floor, a thin line of grey ran round the bottom of the coat, a few inches from the very edge. The coat was only held close to his body, by the sleeves and the grey belt, which he had wrapped around his waist, over his coat. The lapels of the black duster, and the inside of the coat, visible as it rippled in response to his every movement, were a fairly dark grey. Light grey trainers padded softly along the ground; dark blue faded jeans had been softened by wear, until they no longer rustled as he moved. A very light grey, v-necked t-shirt edged in black, was un-tucked; its motif was half hidden by the trench coat, but depicted the Orion constellation, picked out in bright yellow.

The broad belt, resting on his hips, had a wide, black buckle; either side of the buckle was a pair of obsidian shuriken, next round was a pair of obsidian daggers, with blades about half the length of his forearm, the hilts were bound in soft, black leather.

He quickly climbed the tree he had been earlier using for observations. Jumping down he quickly scurried from bush to bush. In each shrub he paused for a moment, watching something visible only to him. As he moved he would occasionally leap over something that only he could see.

Once he was close enough to his target he pounced. Diving through the window, he rolled to an upright kneeling posture. Glancing left and right he stood up and began to move to the door. In the half light of the room, his face and hair seemed to shift and change.

Morrigan leapt from tree to tree, as she crossed the grounds. Her outfit blended with the trees, so well that she might as well have been invisible. Brown soft leather high heeled boot covered her feet, running almost three quarters of the way up her lower leg, before having a turn over, revealing a lighter brown inside; the grey-brown pair of cotton trousers were tight, revealing every curve in her upper legs. Brown leather greaves covered both forearms, laced up with a leather thong very firmly. The most unusual thing about her dress was her top, or maybe it could technically be called a short tunic, stopping just below her groin, sleeveless and with a curved neck-line, it was a patchwork of different colours and fabrics, ranging from brown leather to blue corduroy and red cotton, the patches were large and each edge was marked by large stitches, running perpendicular to the line, in thick black cotton thread; a thin brown leather strap ran around her waist, attached to another one which ran over her left shoulder, a small silver metal buckle lay on her chest; the last part of the top was a tassel of thick green-blue wool hanging off the edge of the much thicker right shoulder strap.

Her movements were almost soundless, any noise created merged with the creaking of the tree branches in the wind.

Reaching the edge of the trees, she still had a good two hundred metres to cross, but with no cover. Smiling she climbed higher into the branches. She stopped when she was precariously balanced on the highest branch that could support her.

A bow materialised in her hands, the shaft, aimed towards a window, was almost invisible, made as it was of clear plastic. Letting go to the bow string, the arrow arced through the air, sticking above the window.

An almost imperceptible smile crossed her face, visible for only the briefest of seconds. Changing the grip on her bow, she placed it over a wire running between the tree and the arrow. The bow shrank, loosing most of the wood past her hands.

She pushed off her perch, rapidly descending to the window below, her legs folded up beneath her.

As she shot through the open window, she expertly rolled to a standing pose; her bow, now a sturdy stick, still clasped firmly in her left hand.

Almost haphazardly she released it, moving towards the door in the deserted bedroom. The stick dematerialized before it landed on the floor.

Whisper had made her way to a grill just outside the wall; squatting down beside it in the half-light her outfit was easy to pick out, black trainers peeked out of the bottom of blue jeans, two red bands ran round the left leg just below the knee, and another two ran round the upper part of her right leg; a brown belt with a double row of metal studs held the belt up. A thick strapped red cotton top had yellow edging around the neck; another also ran down the sides of the strap on her right side; the yellow edging encircled the bottom of the top; a motif in yellow was on the front of her top, it consisted of an upturned half-circle on the upper half of her top, bisected by a straight line, moving all the way down the top, at the end of each line was flared slightly, creating a roman effect, the symbol formed was the Greek letter 'Psi'. A purple off the shoulder top, with only quarter length sleeves, decorated with darker purple swirls, lay underneath the red top. Red fingerless gloves covered her hands; the gloves ran up to about three inches above her wrist.

Gently she began to pull on the grill; it easily opened, allowing her to slip in. Cautiously she closed the grill, the click echoing loudly to her ears.

Moving down the passageway, she went as quickly as she dared, while trying to minimize the sound of her trainers slapping on the floor.

Once at the spiral staircase, her movements slowed, becoming deliberate and carefully placed, as she climbed. One hand held the metal banister rail, while the other ran along the cold stone central pillar.

At the top, she paused, her eyes glazing over for a microsecond; before she opened the sliding door. Quickly she passed through the opening, closing it behind her rapidly.

Looking left and right she started towards the stairs, a definite smile on her lips.

The last, and as yet unnamed, member of the trope had approached the main entrance. Clambering up a tree and making her way onto the gate-post took only a short while.

Standing erect on the stone wall, a slightly breeze ruffled her costume: a pair of black trainers, and blue jeans covered her bottom half; with a darker blue loose t-shirt over the top, it was scattered with small gold stars, had sleeves extending to her elbows, a curved neck, and was fairly long, hanging unchecked to just below her hips; over her t-shirt was a green, long waistcoat, it was made of light cotton, lined with black cotton, it hung lower than the t-shirt, reaching to mid-thigh, the shoulders of the garment peaked out slightly, a black, five-pointed star covered the centre of her chest, where the two halves of the front met for a small part, extending from the top of the star to the bottom of it, the edges were curved, allowing the garment to flow and dance in the breeze as well as reacting to every single movement.

A small leap launched her into the air, landing lightly on the grass next to the gravel drive. Rising from the crouched position, she started towards the building. She moved in a series of dashes and pauses, seemingly relaxed.

Her lips were constantly moving, as if offering up a continuous silent prayer to some watching deity. The deity in question must have been listening, since despite her lack of care and discretion in her approach, no alarm sounded.

Once she had reached the manor walls, she paused, before slipping into the porch. The frond door was glanced at, but just as swiftly dismissed; not even trying the handle, she swarmed up the inside wall of the porch.

Reaching out, the window over the door was easy to pull open. It was the work of moment to slide in and drop lightly to the floor.

Now her movements changed style, instead of her previous pauses and dashes, she seemed to meander her way down the hall. Popping into the kitchen she snagged some food, after looking in the various cupboards and the fridge; before moving on.

Confidently she approached the lift doors; standing, waiting for the lift was another person. Moving next to the taller guy, she smiled at him, ignoring his face, she recognised him as Orion by his clothes.

Whisper walked up to them, nodding as she joined them in their wait. None of them spoke; words were not necessary at this point.

A ding disturbed the silence, as the doors opened, revealing Morrigan in the lift. The others stepped in to join her. The doors closed and Kinetic dropped through the hatch in the top of the lift.

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	9. Call This Security?

I don't own X-men. All original characters are not mine, they own themselves.

Sorry I haven't updated for a while, so here are several chapters.

"How'd it go?" Whisper asked, calmly as the lift descended.

"Piece of cake." Orion smiled, "I borrowed some kid's face I saw yesterday, he's got the same build as me. One person saw me, didn't bat an eye-lid."

"Easy!" Morrigan added, "I didn't see anyone. Security is pathetic!"

"Simple." Kinetic agreed, "Once in I just dropped into the lift shaft, and over-rode the mechanism. All I had to do was pick you all up."

"Nice to know." Whisper grinned.

"What about your side of things?" Morrigan queried.

"I just put them all to sleep, even those who can't." Whisper shrugged, "I must have gotten in after you, Orion."

"I still don't understand how you do that." The last member sighed.

"I'll explain later." Whisper replied, "How was your entrance?"

"Fine." She shook her head, "I've just got a song stuck in my head."

"Oh dear. Anything embarrassing?" Kinetic asked.

"Just a cartoon thing, it only has four lines." She sighed self-conscious.

"Never mind." Orion grinned, at the shame lining his friend's face.

"On the plus side, I've got chocolate." She smiled, producing five chocolate bars out of her pockets.

"Nice one!" was the general round of applause, as each person grabbed a bar.

The lift doors opened, onto the basement level, but none of them moved.

"Okay, who's dealing with the infra-red beams?" Morrigan asked.

"I'll guide Kinetic through." Orion announced.

"Deal." Kinetic nodded, stepping to the middle of the lift doors.

"Want me to try?" the star spangled member asked.

"If you're up to it." Whisper tilted her head to one side.

"One step ahead of the game." She replied, repeating the line, stepping up to the exit, on the far right of the lift.

The two bodies wended their way through the invisible beams, one guided by the calm clear voice of their only male colleague, the other guided by something unseen and unheard by anyone. Their movements were fluid and slow, displaying both flexibility, agility and trust in their guides.

Kinetic emerged first from the 5 meters of beams, and quickly opened a panel on the wall staring at the number panel.

"Now what?" she asked quietly, "Does anyone know the number?"

"I'll try." Her partner replied, emerging from the beams. She moved over to the panel, closing her eyes she ran her fingers over it. One finger fired out and hit four numbers in sequence. As she opened her eyes, Orion nodded.

"Well done," He smiled, "Both of you." He moved towards Kinetic, before enveloping her in a less than platonic hug.

"Next part." Whisper ordered.

"Here," Morrigan announced, handing a glass globe to Kinetic, "Be careful with it."

"I will." Kinetic smiled, moving quickly back to the lift. The doors shut and she disappeared out of sight.

The others were unperturbed by her disappearance.

"Can you remember the way?" Whisper asked Orion, jokingly.

"If I can't, I'll find it." Orion fired back, moving down the tunnel.

"You've got to stay one step ahead of the game," the star-spangled girl sang softly, as she twirled dancing along.

"Any idea how long we'll be?" Morrigan asked.

"You've got one shot, so take your aim." The singer continued.

"Shouldn't take us too long to over-ride their security." Whisper replied.

"You've got to stay one step ahead of the game."

"And Kinetic's buying us a little bit of time." Orion added.

"And you will make it." The singer finished the song, "Sorry, just had to." She shrugged.

"Fine, if it keeps you happy." Whisper said.

"Here!" Orion announced, opening a door, "The Security Centre."

"Great!" Morrigan moved in, "Time to play!"

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	10. Discovery

I don't own X-men. All original characters are not mine, they own themselves.

Sorry I haven't updated for a while, so here are several chapters.

Logan was conducting an early morning practise session, having dragged a few of the younger potential X-men out of bed at about eight. By the time they had reached the basement levels, he was already irritated; someone had dropped a stink bomb in the lift the night before. The stench had really played havoc with his heightened sense of smell.

However his nasal passages had recovered by the time he had moved not five metres down the corridor. Immediately he snapped his right arm out, stopping the young children from passing him.

"What is it?" one girl haughtily asked.

"Intruders. Five." Logan replied bluntly, "Last night."

"What do we do?" one boy panicked.

"Sunspot, go and alert the Professor." Wolverine ordered, "The rest of you come with me. They're still down here."

A Brazilian boy immediately ran back to the lift, the other two boys and two girls continued down the corridor, slowly following Wolverine. Wolverine was following the scent, narrowing down on the intruders' location.

At the last turn, he motioned to the others to stop moving,

"They're in the Security Centre." He informed them, "We attack on the count of three. One…"

He never got any further, his hyper sensitive ears picked up a quiet female voice,

"Door." It wasn't a request, it was a statement.

Instantly the door was opened, and five people stepped out. Running his eye along the line of opponents, he assessed each one.

"Bezerker take Black. Wolfsbane take Stars. Magma take Normal. Cannonball take Mismatch. I'll take Male." Logan ordered, recognising the one guy in the group as the only one with any formal training in martial arts; he was also the only member of the group visibly armed.

Everyone paired up, but before they attacked,

"There is no WAY in HELL I'm fighting THAT!" Cannonball yelled.

Wolverine turned, and immediately could see why Cannonball was backing out of fighting his opponent. Mismatch had somehow produced out of nowhere a large sword, almost as tall as herself, as broad at the base as her palm, with hooks and barbs on it.

"Switch." Was Wolverine's single word command. He was more confident about Cannonball taking on a trained fighter than anyone else; having grown up in a large family Cannonball knew how to fight, and how to fight _dirty_.

The sword slimmed down and became more practical, as Mismatch approached him a smile on her face. The sword was held in a professional pose, and the girl didn't seem fazed by his spikes. Indeed she seemed prepared for anything; Wolverine instantly readjusted her level on his threat indicator, this girl was more dangerous than her previous stance had indicated.

Her danger level was upped again, when his spikes failed to cut the sword into pieces.

"Adamantium." She fired at him smiling. Wolverine smiled back, this was going to be fun.

Cannonball looked round the other fighters, having noticed that Wolverine wouldn't be able to distract himself from his opponent. Cannonball was normally a fierce fighter, but he was not stupid. Having grown up as the eldest child of a rather large family, on a farm, he had learnt caution, and developed a strong protective streak.

He immediately realized that both Bezerker and Magma were outclassed, their abilities were far better suited to long range attacks and so they had been neglecting hand-to-hand combat. Making a mental note to teach them some of his dirtier tricks, he checked on Wolfsbane.

Wolfsbane was in her werewolf form (half human – half wolf), so obviously she felt she needed the advantage of the extra speed, strength and reflexes it gave her, but she didn't seem in any danger. So Cannonball concentrated on his opponent.

The guy seemed to be a fairly well trained fighter, and as Cannonball tried a few of his dirty tricks, the guy countered them with a few of his own. Cannonball grinned, and began the fight in earnest.

"Sam!" Cannonball sighed, as he heard his little sister Paige yell his name, "What can I do?"

"Husk, swap with Magma." Cannonball ordered. When would she learn to use codenames in battle?

"What?!" Magma yelled indignant.

"Use your fire to help us. You're better at long range." Cannonball explained. In reality he knew that his sister was another good fighter, he also would have preferred to swap Husk with Bezerker, but he would have objected more.

The switch didn't take long, and with Husk wearing a new harder skin (it looked like plastic) the fight continued. When Colossus arrived, Cannonball switched him with Bezerker.

Technically Colossus should have had command being superior, but given the fact that the guy didn't speak much (if at all) Cannonball assumed authority. The fight continued.

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	11. And You Are?

I don't own X-men. All original characters are not mine, they own themselves.

Sorry I haven't updated for a while, so here are several chapters.

"Whisper, twist!" Cannonball tried to concentrate on the fight.

"Morri, duck!" Tried being the operative word.

"Kinetic, turn!" He was being off-put by the orders.

"Whisper, jump!" That 'Stars' (as she had been dubbed) was yelling.

"Orion, twist!" Cannonball tried to prevent his opponent from obeying, but once again it was futile.

He arched his back in pain, as Bezerker's electric shock hit him; the first thought running through his brain was 'Thank God, it wasn't Amara's fire!'.

"Hit Stars!" he ordered, his voice angry, "Take her out!"

"We're trying!" Magma retorted.

"Wolfsbane should do it!" Bezerker was angry.

"So far, I've not been able to touch her. If you think you can do better, have a go!" Wolfsbane growled.

"Can I help?" A cheerful voice asked, as the owner's feet ran down the corridor.

"Angel, there's no _room_ for you to help. You don't have the wing clearance!" Cannonball yelled recognising the voice instantly; he did not have time for idiots. "Just get the Professor!"

"Oww!" Husk yelled, "Can't you guys aim?"

"We're trying! Keep them in one place can't you?" Bezerker fired back angrily; his shots were getting wilder with his anger.

"Let me try." A female voice announced.

"No! Siryn!" Cannonball yelled, "If we haven't hit them yet, you could take one of us out." He said in-between blows.

"Orion, twist!" Stars ordered, turning to face her friend while ducking Wolfsbane's punch, almost absently mindedly.

"Take her out!" Cannonball shouted desperately.

Wolfsbane almost yelped when Stars touched her for the first time, since the fight had begun.

"Sorry." Was the whispered comment from her, as she pulled on Wolfsbane's shoulder. However she was too late as she felt the rush of air and vibrations as Siryn's scream delivered her into oblivion.

"Siryn!" Cannonball yelled, "I told you not to."

"She had her back to me!" Siryn was shocked "She couldn't have seen it!"

"She sees everything!" Magma screamed, "That's why we haven't been able to hit her! Or anyone else!"

"At least if any of the others had tried, we'd only be hurt. Not unconscious!" Husk shouted angrily.

"Everyone calm down." An authoritative voice ordered, "There's no need to fight. I'm sure we can sort this all out. We just need to talk."

Cannonball relaxed, the Professor had arrived. Sneaking a look he noticed that the Professor wasn't alone, nearly every single fighting student was there, all in various states of dress.

Obeying the unspoken instruction, Cannonball retreated along with the other X-men to the Professor's side. Colossus picked up Wolfsbane as he passed; and Wolverine was obviously reluctant to leave his interesting fight.

The intruders moved back, forming a fighting triangle, ready to fight on a moment's notice. Mismatch was at the front, crouched low her sword held ready; on her left and slightly behind was Normal; on Mismatch's right hand side, again slightly behind, was Male positioned ready to fight; on his right, once more slightly behind, was Black coiled like a spring ready to pounce. Stars appeared to be missing; but a space had been left on Normal's left hand side.

The Professor looked along the defensive line. The very stances of these intruders seemed familiar; however he could not remember where he had seen it before.

"Watch out Professor." Bezerker warned, as the Professor stepped forward slightly. "One of them is hiding."

Between the legs of the other intruders, a moving pair of legs could be seen. It appeared the owner of the legs was spinning around slightly, light on her feet. She spun into her place, the waistcoat flaring out behind her like a cape. Her short brown hair didn't wave in the breeze she created, and behind large glasses a pair of dark brown eyes sparkled. Cocking her head on one side she spoke

"Hello Professor."

"Rachael… Fortune…" Charles breathed.

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	12. Breakfast

I don't own X-men. All original characters are not mine, they own themselves.

Sorry I haven't updated for a while, so here are several chapters.

A cheeky grin spread across her face in acknowledgement.

"I see you decided to take up my offer." Professor Xavier stated.

"Nope!" if it was possible the grin spread wider.

"We decided to check out your security system." Black explained.

"And quite frankly, it's rubbish." Male commented.

"It's no wonder the army got in here last time." Mismatch agreed.

"Especially if this is the upgrade!" Normal agreed.

"You just got lucky!" Bobby spat.

"So there's one clear route…" Ororo started.

"Five." Smirked Black.

"Five?" Kitty spluttered.

"Five of us, and five routes." Replied Male proudly.

"By the way, can we have breakfast? I'm starving!" Rachael asked.

"First introduce yourselves to my students, then we'll see what we can find." The Professor replied.

"Katie Kinetic." Black replied stepping forward, so that she was level with Mismatch.

"Glen Orion." Male stepped to be level with the two girls on either side of him.

"Diane Morrigan." Mismatch straightened up, sliding the sword through her left hand, as if into a scabbard, with care. Once done she let go, and the weapon vanished.

"Kie Whisper." Normal stepped forward and obviously relaxed.

"Rachael Fortune." Rachael smiled, joining her friends in the line with two quick steps.

"What do you call your team?" Cannonball asked.

"We're just friends. We're not out to make a name for ourselves." Kie shrugged.

"Yeah, we only took the codenames, as a bit of fun!" Katie agreed.

"Can we have food now?" Rachael asked again.

"Of course." The Professor agreed, "Sam, if you wouldn't mind showing them to the dining room."

"Are you sure, Professor?" Paige asked.

"They're obviously dangerous!" Amara agreed.

"They are friends, and I expect them to be treated as such." The Professor ordered.

"Thank you." Rachael smiled, "I don't really function before breakfast."

Sam turned to lead the way, the mass of students separating before him like the Red Sea. Unperturbed by the stares and looks of open hostility they were receiving the five friends followed him, forced into single file, smiling as they did so.

Just before she passed Piotr, who was still holding Rahne, Rachael stopped. Turning to face him, she asked:

"She will be alright. Won't she?"

"Yes."

"Good, I was worried." Rachael sighed slightly in relief, before continuing down the corridor.

The students closed behind them, trailing behind. Everyone was obviously wary of the intruders, as well as curious; after all these strangers had proven themselves to be highly dangerous.

Sam sat down at a table with the five, so that they could have breakfast. He was quickly joined by Warren, Paige, Ray, Rahne and Amara. They formed a united front against the outsiders.

However they were more than slightly taken aback by the casual indifference they received from the interlopers.

"Pass the butter, Wings." Glen asked Warren, a smile on his face.

"I'm sorry about the scream thing." Rachael apologised to Rahne.

"It's okay." Rahne replied, trying to be polite.

"I wasn't sure what it would do to me." Rachael explained, eating her porridge, "I knew it wouldn't be deadly, but I couldn't afford to be incapacitated."

"Yeah, we need our little lookout." Diane agreed, munching on some toast.

"So, what are your names? You know ours, and we don't want to insult you." Kie asked.

"I'm Sam, also known as Cannonball." Sam nodded.

"Paige, a.k.a. Husk. Sam's sister." Paige added.

"Warren, Angel." Warren was blunt in his introduction.

"My name is Amara, but I am also known as Magma." Amara announced regally.

"Rahne, but some call me Wolfsbane." Rahne said.

"Ray, but I prefer Berserker." Ray finished the introductions.

"Thanks," Katie smiled, "this was getting embarrassing. I mean you know us, but we don't know you."

"We don't, really know you." Warren countered, "Just your names, and what we saw of your fighting."

"And that you know the Professor." Sam agreed.

"There's not much to tell." Diane commented.

"We met the Professor, when he came to our Uni." Rachael added.

"It was a bit confusing; he wasn't expecting us all to be mutants." Kie agreed.

"But he gave us his number, and asked that we kept in touch." Glen added.

"So why come now?" Warren asked.

"We were bored." Katie replied candidly.

"Bored?" Ray was shocked.

"Yes." Rachael replied.

"So what do you do?" Paige queried.

"Archaeology." Glen answered.

"The same." Katie added.

"Archaeology and classics." Kie smiled.

"Same as Kie." Diane replied.

"Pharmacy, I'm the odd one out." Rachael joked.

"I meant, what are your powers?" Paige inquired again.

"Why don't you guess?" Katie asked, "I mean we've got a good idea of yours."

"But most of you weren't using your powers!" Amara complained.

"Or if you were, they were very discrete." Sam added.

"Okay, I suppose it is a bit unfair." Kie agreed.

"I can create any weapon that I understand." Diane explained.

"I'm an emitting and receiving empath." Kie supplied.

"I bounce, never loosing any energy." Katie was enthusiastic.

"I can see through things, have zoom vision, can see outside the visible spectrum and can change my face." Glen grinned.

"He's handy," Rachael started, "Myself, you could just say that I just have great perceptual awareness."

The conversation continued over breakfast, covering a wide variety of topics. Just after they had finished, Ororo approached.

"I've been asked to show our guests to the Professor's office, Sam. So I'll just take them off your hands." She informed them.

"Okay, we'll see you guys later!" Kie smiled, as the five rose to follow the white haired weather witch.

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